IndyCar: Kimball leads Pocono practice

Chip Ganassi Racing-Chevrolet driver Charlie Kimball clocked the only 221mph lap of morning practice at Pocono Raceway to earn himself P1, almost 0.6mph ahead of one of the track’s more local heroes – teammate Sage Karam.

Kimball lapped the famous tri-oval in 40.6554 seconds, equating to a 221.373mph average, to go 0.6mph clear of Karam. The younger American took full benefit of the rookie/part-timer hour of track action that preceded practice to clock 83 laps overall and complete a Ganassi 1-2.

Simon Pagenaud headed the Penske quartet with third fastest just a tick ahead of his championship-leading teammate Juan Montoya, while Takuma Sato (AJ Foyt Racing) and Marco Andretti (Andretti Autosport) were top Hondas in fifth and sixth.

Some of the season’s winners appeared to be struggling however. Scott Dixon (Ganassi) was only 16th, Josef Newgarden (CFH Racing-Chevy) 18th, and Sebastien Bourdais (KV Racing-Chevy) 21st.

It was Bourdais’ teammate Stefano Coletti that brought the session to a slightly premature end, with a mild wall-scraping incident that appeared to start in Turn 3, and damaged the steering enough to send him into the pit wall.

Qualifying starts at 2 p.m. Eastern Time and is broadcast live on NBCSN.

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